Mississauga-based advertising firm Pattison Outdoor announced today it is going to be the official “out-of-home advertising supplier” for the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games in Toronto.
“We’re thrilled to be associated with the Pan Am Games Association and honoured to have an opportunity to promote them and make them successful,” Pattison Outdoor CEO Randy Otto told YourMississaugaBiz.com. “We have an opportunity to work with the Pan Am Games to promote them in both the Greater Toronto Area and across Canada.”
The country’s largest outdoor, transit and digital advertising company headquartered on Matheson Boulevard will be promoting tickets, merchandise, cultural events and the official mascot for the Games.
As part of the agreement, Pattison Outdoor will also provide access to traditional poster and digital billboard advertising, interior and exterior advertising on public transit, street-level advertising, as well as in office towers and malls, the company said in a press release.
The company’s previous experience as a sponsor of Team Canada for the 2012 Olympics allowed Pattison staff to see athletes win medals in London. It was also what led to the Pan Am staff contacting Pattison.
Otto said information about a relay leading up to the Pan Am Games will be advertised through Pattison products in Ontario and in other markets. “But we really are letting the folks at Pan Am tell us when they want to use our media and how,” he explained of the planning process. “We want them to have the most effective advertising campaign strategy that we could possibly provide for them.”
“The unparalleled reach of our out-of-home advertising means transit riders, commuters, pedestrians and shoppers across the country will know that Toronto is set to welcome some of the world’s best athletes in just 874 days,” Otto said in a statement.
In addition to Pattison working with Pan Am staff on maximizing advertising products for awareness, Otto said his staff might also have an opportunity to volunteer at some of the events as part of the company’s corporate sponsorship role.
But Otto said the biggest benefit of sponsoring the Pan Am and Parapan Games might be how it could change the way the public sees advertising companies. “I hope as the people of Toronto see our support that they understand that as a company we strive very hard to try and give the community back value beyond just things like the Toronto Billboard Tax,” he said.
Otto said he felt the administration during David Miller’s time as mayor of Toronto painted the industry negatively in order to get the billboard tax passed. “I’m biased, of course, but there was no press in terms of what we did in terms of sports, arts and culture,” he said, citing the company’s support of the Toronto Urban Film Festival, the annual Contact photography festival and the 2012 Summer Olympics. “I think the public perception is that we are just a company here generating revenue.”
“We think the Pan Am Games are a great event for Toronto and the GTA,” Otto said, “We’re really excited about what they’ll bring to Toronto and what they’ll show the world the great city we all live in and work in.”
Otto has been in the advertising industry for 35 years. Before he came back to work at Pattison, he was the former senior vice-president of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not in Orlando, Florida. He has been president and CEO of Pattison Outdoor since 2004.
The company’s advertising consists of traditional billboards, digital screens, and transit markets in cities across the country, including the Toronto Transit Commission. The privately owned Canadian company employs 170 people in Mississauga and a total of 410 people across the country. It is a division of the Jim Pattison Group.
Karen K. Ho 